Dundee host newly promoted Hibernian in their second home league game of the season and we take a look at a player that played for both, Keith Wright who is in the Hall of Fame of both clubs.
For Dundee fans everywhere a mongoose is so much more than a small predatory mammal from Africa, chiefly known for its distinctive long tail. Rather it is a bona fide legend, famed for predatory goal scoring exploits while wearing a distinctive dark blue shirt, namely Keith Wright. Signed from Raith Rovers in 1986, Wright was part of two successful goal scoring partnerships in his time at Dens but became a legend in his own right when he scored a hat-trick in a memorable derby win over Dundee United in 1989.
Born in Edinburgh on May 17th 1965, Wright started his football career at Starks Park in 1983 where he averaged almost a goal every two games, prompting Dundee manager Jocky Scott to splash out £50,000 for the 23 year-old. He quickly linked up with new strike partner Tommy Coyne who was signed within days of Wright and the two went on to form one of the most deadly partnerships in the club’s history.
Coyne had cost £75,000 from Dundee United and it proved money well spent for the pair when on December 23rd the new striking partnership spearheaded Dundee to a 6-3 win over St Mirren at Dens, with Wright netting twice on his home debut.
By the end of the season Wright had netted 13 goals while Coyne had scored 15 and ‘The Cobra’ and ‘The Mongoose’ were born.
Both had scored in the Scottish Cup semi-final with Dundee United at Tynecastle in April 1987 but the 3-2 defeat denied Dundee a place in the final. In September however both Wright and Coyne got their revenge in the Skol Cup quarter-final when the pair were on the score sheet in a 2-1 extra time victory over The Arabs.
With just eight minutes remaining Coyne took the tie into extra time and in front of a full house of 19,817, Keith Wright wrote his name into Dark Blue folklore when five minutes into the extra period he finished off a superb move by Coyne and Graham Harvey to send the Dundee support in raptures.
It was Wright’s first derby win and he would go on to score in three further victories over United in his time at Dens to cement his place as a Dundee legend. Three months after that League Cup win, Wright was again on target against The Arabs when he scored the third in a 3-1 win at Tannadice.
However his finest moment in a Dundee shirt came at the start of the 1989/90 season when he scored a hat-trick against The Terrors in a thrilling 4-3 derby win at Dens in August. The visitors had led 2-0 after only 24 minutes but by half time Keith Wright had levelled the scores. Mixu Paatalainen made it 3-2 only for Wright to equalise on the hour before Joe McBride curled home free kick winner with 17 minutes remaining.
Wright was the hero of the hour and he became the first Dundee player to score a hat-trick against United in the league since World War Two. The 5ft 11in striker had always proved to be a thorn in the flesh to Dundee’s local rivals and he confessed to the press afterwards, “I like nothing better than to put one over the lads down the road.”
Fortunately for Dundee he would do it again in the final derby of the season when he equalised for The Dark Blues in bizarre fashion after Paddy Connolly had put United ahead early on. Suddenly a squall whipped up as United keeper Alan Main tried to take a goal kick and with the ball struggling to reach the half way line, Maurice Malpas sliced the ball into the air and hurled it back towards the United box. Keith Wright was on his toes and nipped ahead of Main to head the ball into the empty net with BBC commentator Archie Macpherson stating on Sportscene at night, “goal scored by hurricane.”
In truth it had been scored by ‘The Mongoose’ before Rab Shannon curled in a free kick to give Dundee a priceless 2-1 win.
Six points out of eight against United that season was not enough to save Dundee from relegation but Wright showed incredible loyalty by deciding to turn down all offers and stick around to try and get Dundee back to the Premier Division at the first time of asking. By then Tommy Coyne was long gone, having left for Celtic in February 1989 and by the end of the season Wright finished as top goal scorer for the first time.
The next season Wright struck up another productive partnership with Billy Dodds and although their combined total of 25 goals had failed to prevent Dundee from going down, hopes were high that the pair could shoot their way out of the First Division at the first attempt.
By November Dundee had reached the final of the B&Q Scottish League Centenary Cup, a new competition for clubs outside the Premier Division to celebrate a hundred years of the Scottish League and they had reached the final thanks to two goals from Wright in the semi-final at Kilmarnock.
On November 11th 1990 Wright was part of the side to win the glassware trophy thanks to a 3-2 extra-time win over Ayr United and Wright would be involved again in the Scottish League centenary celebrations when he was chosen to play for the Scottish League against the Scottish international side.
It was a tremendous honour for Keith to be called up as the only First Division representative and a tremendous honour for Dundee to have a player called up for international duty in a period in which the Dark Blues only had one called up for the full international side in a 26 year period.
The Centenary Cup win was Wright’s second winners’ medal as a Dundee player having been part of the side to win the Tennents’ Sixes in 1988 but when he failed to win a third at the end of the season with a First Division medal, it was only a matter of time before the predators came looking for his signature.
Wright was by far and away the best striker outside the Premier Division and he had finished again as Dundee’s top scorer in the league with 18 goals so when boyhood heroes Hibernian came in with an offer of £500,000, it was no surprise that he was off to Easter Road.
It was a fee which had matched the club record received for Tommy Coyne two years previously but for Hibs it was money well spent as within a year he scored their second goal in the 2-0 Skol League Cup Final victory over Dunfermline at Hampden to give The Hibees their first major trophy in 19 years.
Keith spent six years in Leith where he scored 59 goals in 188 appearances and went on to win a full Scotland cap against Northern Ireland in 1992. He was released by Jim Duffy in 1997 before returning to Raith Rovers and then Fife neighbours Cowdenbeath where he spent two years as manager; the first as player / manager before he hung up his boots.
Keith now works for the Scottish FA as a Football Development Officer for Midlothian and while his League Cup Final goal earned him legendary status in the east end of Edinburgh, it is not just at Hibs he has that status. His time at Dens yielded 75 goals which included four hat-tricks and eight braces as legions of Dundee fans also “Wrightly” remember ‘The Mongoose’ as a true Dark Blue legend and they voted Keith into the club’s Hall of Fame earlier this year.
Honours at Dundee:
B&Q Scottish League Centenary Cup winners: 1990
Tennents’ Sixes winners: 1988
Scottish League appearances: 1
Appearances, Goals:
League: 160 + 7 subs, 62 goals
Scottish Cup: 15 + 1 sub, 4 goals
League Cup: 10, 6 goals
Centenary Cup: 4, 3 goals
Totals 197, 75 goals
